August has baggage. And I’m not just talking about the oppressive heat and the swamp-level humidity. The month begins with the last dregs of summer and ends with an espresso shot of back-to-school busyness. If… Dealing with dread

There’s an easy way to tell whether or not you have an unhealthy attachment to your computer: How do you react when it might be broken? It happened to me last week, so the feelings… A computer’s close call

I wish I’d known years ago that my ability to sleep well might have an expiration date. I used to be so good at it. In those early years, I could drop off within minutes,… How mama got her snooze back

My older brother was one of those guys — a fireworks guy. Do you know one? A guy who loves fireworks so much that the 4th of July becomes more like Christmas — the most… My brother, the bottle rocket

As a new parent, everyone braces you for how challenging the newborn phase will be. They make jokes about sleeping while you can because once the baby shows up, you’ll be up around the clock… Tears, fears and duct tape

A few weeks ago, we had this short but wonderful pocket of time right before our oldest son’s college graduation. For four days, we had all three of our big kids home. After  graduation, two… Sometimes karma is lovely

The children are afraid. Terrified, in fact. But you’d never know it by looking at them because they’re too scared to move a muscle, especially the ones around their eyes. What are they so afraid… Blank beauty

A year ago, a tornado hop-scotched through our town. It was past midnight, and I was watching a movie at home with our teenagers. When our phones screamed a long, loud beep, we switched to… One year after the tornado